


Prophecy Of The Stars

by dinochickrox, orphan_account



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Post-Canon, soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23126662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinochickrox/pseuds/dinochickrox, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The war was long over, Aaravos and Viren dead with Claudia in the dungeons forever.Zym was being taught by Ibis until he became King, with Zubeia watching over his teaching.Callum and Rayla have gotten married and have a family of their own in Silvergrove, with Ethari, Tiadrin, Lain, and Runaan still living in Silvergrove as well.But even though the world is at peace, trouble is always brewing.When Amaris, Rayla and Callum’s oldest daughter, receives a message from someone, she knows she has to find who...`Beware the owl’s words,Follow the starred wingsTo find a lake with constellations,And stars that touch the sky.`
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 24





	1. The Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there readers! I wanted to say I did NOT work on this fanfic alone! I did it with the help of my friend, Dinochick!  
> Go follow them on twitter at @/dinochickrox and follow me on twitter at @/mixini_bruni !  
> Hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edited to add something to the phrases!

The night had already fallen, birds silent and a breeze rustling the old tree’s leaves. It was quiet besides the crickets chirping and owl calls occasionally.

Yet, Amaris was not yet asleep, looking through her telescope to find any constellations. The half-elf half-human teenager was very fascinated with them, her room walls covered in her paintings of meteors and planets, along with constellations of zodiacs and others.

Her notebook was open as she jotted down a new formation of stars, then connected the dots. _Now, who you will be…_ She thought, trying to think of a name for it.

Amaris had come up with a few of her own constellations before so it should’ve come easy to her to find a name, but her mind was blank. _Why can’t I think of anything?_ She kept staring at the constellation figure. It consisted of seven major stars, three of which were considerably bigger, and four smaller ones. Two of the bigger, and two of the smaller stars made a little bit of an arch. The two bigger stars weren’t lined up exactly, the bottom star was a little towards the left, while the two smaller stars in between the two bigger stars were a little to the right. The rest formed a V shape on top of the arch, and she thought about it some more.

 _It kind of reminds me of a path seen in an old book from my uncle..._ Amaris thought, then remembered the book’s name, ”Pathfinder.”

 _That’s it! I’ll name you Pathfinder._ Amaris decided and wrote the name under it. She turned to a new page, one with graphed paper in case she found another new one.

She sadly didn’t find another one and eventually put her telescope away, deciding to study the “Pathfinder” constellation more.

 _Hm, it looks like it could be a two-headed snake possibly, maybe..._ The young girl began to sketch out an animal for it and decided on a two-headed snake. Amaris left the sketchbook out to paint it tomorrow and decided to go to sleep. As she was falling asleep, she couldn’t help but think about Pathfinder. The farthest star made her want to lead her eyes toward somewhere. _Almost as if you’re trying to lead me somewhere._

**Open your eyes.**

Amaris’ eyes shot open, but she didn’t see her bedroom. Instead, for some reason, she was laying on a field with melo-daisies and other Xadian flowers, illuminated by the moonlight. The girl was confused, her ears perking as she didn’t see anyone who could have said that.

She looked around before standing up, trying to see where she was. _This has to be a dream._ Amaris thought, and then she felt oddly pulled towards something and began to walk towards it. “What do you want?” She said into nothing before she stopped at a lake. It reflected the stars perfectly, and she noticed her reflection.

Amaris wasn’t very human-looking, with her crescent moon marking and white little freckles, almost like stars, surrounding her bluish-purple eyes... The only hint to her human heritage was that she had five fingers on each hand and her ears had rounded points but were still pointy. Other than that she looked like an elf, even though her horns were smaller than usual.

The stars seemed to glow, then she noticed one of the huge constellations was very familiar. “Pathfinder.” She whispered, and she heard the same voice in the beginning.

**_`Beware the owl’s words,_ **

**_Follow the starred wings and the finder of the path_ **

**_To find a lake with constellations,_ **

**_And stars that touch the sky.`_ **

“Ama..”

Amaris heard the words loud and clear as if the speaker was right behind her, and she ignored the whisper of her name.

“What in Galarth’s name..”

“AMA!”

A loud shout woke up Amaris with a start, the sun lighting the room, her sketchbook still open.

The voice who woke her up was her brother, Jaci.

He had green eyes like her father, Prince Callum, but white hair like her mother. His horns were blue with lighter swirls in them, and he was clearly excited.

“Urgh, what is it Jaci?” His sister groaned, still waking up as she blinked sleep from her eyes. “Wake up! Mama’s coming home today!” He said excitedly, which made her remember.

 _Right! Mom is out on a mission and she was supposed to come back two weeks after, which is today._ She remembered as her younger brother tugged her hand. “Come on sis! I wanna give her a big hug!” He whined.

“Okay okay, just let me get dressed.” She answered, and he seemed satisfied at that and decided to exit her room.

The girl rubbed her eyes and blinked the sleep away, looking around her room.

The walls were painted a light blue with yellow stars on them from when she was a kid, all of her paintings framed and hung up on the wall along with a clock shaped as a moonstrider.

She remembered the dream but pushed it out of her head.

_Just a silly dream..._

_Right? Dreams don’t really mean anything, unless..._

  
  



	2. Snakes and Stones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise motherfucker we wrote another one  
> again go follow dinochick at @/dinochickrox and me at @/mixini_bruni on twitter!

“Mama! You’re finally home!”

Amaris finally had gotten dressed and heard Jaci excitedly yell, and heard a “Hi Ja-Oof!” and then heard her father laughing.

She rolled her eyes as she thought of the antics that Jaci was getting up to. As she expected, Rayla had fallen over from the force of Jaci running into her and was now sitting cross-legged on the floor, chuckling. “You’re gettin’ stronger and stronger every day I see.” Her mother commented, and Amaris giggled. “Hi, Mom!” She chirped and went to give her a hug.”Hello to you too miss Night Watcher. Stayed up late again?” Amaris sheepishly asked “That obvious?” Callum came to sit with them and ruffled her hair. “I’d say so, considering your hair is a mess.” Rayla chuckled “You would know, she gets it from you. I’ve seen all those times you trained with Ibis, your hair looked no different.” Her mother remarked, earning an eye roll. “You weren’t any better!”

Jaci giggled and tried to mess up his hair to prove his mom’s point, but Callum managed to avoid him, laughing. “Why do you always side with your mom?” Jaci quipped, “Because she’s usually right.” Rayla booped his nose “And don’t ya ever forget it.”

Callum raised an eyebrow. “Really? Name three times.”

Rayla named three almost immediately, “ Elves aren’t bloodthirsty, I was right about Claudia, and to not trust Nyx when we first met her!” Callum tried to justify, “To be fair, she did get us across faster!”

“And stole Zym!”

Amaris giggled as well with Jaci. She loved her family a whole lot, but she missed the young Dragon Prince-

“Rrawa!”

_ Speak of the devil. _ Amaris thought before she saw Zym poke his head up to the window by jumping.

“Peep!” He chirped, trying to look through again to catch their attention. As soon as Jaci noticed he exclaimed “ZYM!”

Rayla and Callum at first looked confused before hearing a tiny roar. “Guess someone else heard you came back!” Her father joked. Amaris jokingly said, “Or just wants to avoid responsibility again.” 

They all went outside to a very excited prince who was chasing his tail before he went up to say hi to the family.”Wayla! Cawum!” He chirped, flapping his wings excitedly.

Amaris turned her head to a low growl from Sage, her own moonstrider. She was normally very aloof but she warmed up around Amaris. She simply closed her eyes and ignored Zym’s antics.

Zym gave Callum a big hug with his wings and gave Rayla a zappy kiss. “Hey, buddy. Decided to give Ibis another heart attack again?”

Zym sheepishly smiled, shuffling his feet. “Yeth..?” Callum rolled his eyes. “If Ibis flies down here pissed, I’m not defending you.” Zym admits, “Don’t expect ya ta!” 

Rayla laughed, and scratched him behind the ear.”You sure love panicking your mom, huh?”

Amaris enjoyed his antics and quipped, “That wasn’t obvious before?”

Jaci and her parents played with Zym, and Amaris watched them, but her mind was distracted. _ Maybe a nice walk will do the trick.  _ She decided to just take Sage for a walk. “Hey Mom!” she called, and Rayla turned her head. “Yes?” Rayla responded. Amaris informed her “I’m gonna take Sage out for a walk. Be back in a bit.”

Rayla nodded and told her to be back before sunset, then she went to go put the saddle and reins on a grumpy Sage.

“Hey there girl.” Amaris greeted Sage, making her perk up and huff, turning her head and pretending to be annoyed. “I’m not buying it Sage. Wanna go for a walk?” The Moonstrider seemed to be happy with that, smiling. “Come on girl, let’s go gear up.”

  
  


_ \----------------------------------------------------- _

About ten minutes later, they were running through the forest, jumping on rocks and racing imaginary dragons and horses. Sage was panting and barked sometimes in joy, and they were having plenty of fun. It almost took Amaris’ mind off of things. Almost.

Sage and Amaris ran for a few more moments, laughing before Sage stopped suddenly, ears perking as she sniffed. This made her rider very concerned, Amaris looking around. “What is it, girl?”

Then something broke the silence.

A loud hiss. _ TWO _ loud hisses from behind her.  _ What is THAT!?  _ Sage started to growl, and the hissing continued. Amaris had Sage turn around, to see a snake.

A snake with two heads, and a pattern very close to the one she painted.  Ssssss… it hissed, it’s tongue flicking in and out of its mouth with ruby-red eyes.

_ I have to be hallucinating. _ She thought and examined it from afar. “Go, Sage.” Amaris whispered to her and she jumped over it, but the snake gave chase, hissing all the way until she finally heard it cease when she was close to the house. Sage had to stop, panting. Amaris had to catch her breath as well since it scared her so much. Luckily it was still afternoon so she wasn’t late to come back.

Sage and Amaris came back to see Jaci and Zym playing hide and seek, and Ibis apparently had shown up, most likely because Zym had run off, and was talking with Callum and Rayla.

“Me and Zubeia were scared to death when we saw he was lost, it was just “Where’s Zym?!” “You LOST HIM?!” and then we both realized he must’ve been down here visiting you two.”

“It’s not like we tell him to do it, he does it on his own free will.” Rayla tried to justify him, which got a look from Callum. ”I thought we weren’t defending him!” “He was our first kid before our kids!” Rayla defended.

Sage laid down after she got all of her gear taken off, and Amaris laughed at Rayla’s defense. “I mean he is like a big brother!” Amaris called, and her mom yelled a “THANK YOU!”

They all hung out for a bit before Ibis took Zym home, despite him protesting and they all went to bed. ”Goodnight little night watcher.” Rayla purred, giving Amaris a goodnight hug before going to tuck in Jaci. After saying goodnight to her dad she went to her room, not bothering to look at the stars because she was so tired from the day.

_ I’m sure I was just hallucinating… _ was her final thought before going to sleep.

  
  


**Awake.**

She did. She was in the same place as last time, only she was standing up. Right in front of the lake.  _ What the!? _

She looked around frantically before her eyes landed on the snake.

The same snake she saw while out with Sage.

This time, she could see the scales more clearly with a blacks stripe going down both its heads then onto its back, with ruby red eyes and warm colors that had a gradient from red to orange and then yellow, with rocks looking like a path on them. One of the heads looked up at her, then looked at the lake, and then again two more times before it stopped at the lake, and they slithered onto the lake where it reflected the stars, and stopped at Pathfinder, it shifting into the same shape as the constellation.

And same as the last dream, the voice said the same creepy phrases.

**_`Beware the owl’s words,_ **

**_Follow the starred wings and the finder of the path_ **

**_To find a lake with constellations,_ **

**_And stars that touch the sky.`_ **

  
  


_ “WHAT DO YEH WANT!?! JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT A SOULFANG SERPENT OR A WEIRD CATERPILLAR DOESN’T MEAN I TRUST YAH!” _

**“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to.”** The voice whispered.”

_ “GONNA HAVE TAH DO WHAT!? NOT GET KILLED BY YAH!?” _

**“Trust me and Pathfinder. Unless you want to be killed by Tyto.”**

_ “Tyto!? Who’s Tyto!? Who are you for that matter!? And how do ya know about Pathfinder!? Have yah been spying on me!?” _

There was a sudden jolt, and Amaris awoke, sitting up with a start and hyperventilating.

“Who are you?!” She whispered out loud, and to her surprise, she heard a whisper respond back to her in her head.

**“A friend,”**


	3. The Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you know da wae...  
> TO FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!  
> Dinochick : @/dinochickrox  
> Me! : @/mixini_bruni

Amaris didn’t get any sleep that night, watching the clouds before the dawn slowly began to seep into the sky, turning into a purple.

_ I’m certainly not getting any sleep tonight…  _ She thought, the dream still fresh in her mind and not knowing it’s meaning. Even though the cold sweat had long been gone, it felt like it could come back at any second.

As the sun peeked over the trees, barely, she finally decided to go eat some breakfast in the kitchen. Forgetting that her dad would probably be up at this time. And from the smell of freshly baked moonberry muffins, he was indeed already up.

She quickly got out of her pajamas and just put on a T-shirt and pants, before exiting her room.

As she walked into the kitchen area, Callum looked at her surprised. “Hey Night Watcher, what woke you up at this hour?”

“Who said I had a good night’s rest?” Amaris quipped, joking but only a little bit. As she said that, she started to notice the concerned look in Callum’s eyes.  _ Oh great, he’s going to ask. _

“Where did those dark circles under your eyes come from?” He asked, not accusingly but just curiously with an edge of concern.

“Let’s just say my dreams have been getting pretty freaky…” She answered simply. “Freaky you say? Anything that would involve ‘big feelings’? If you’re comfortable talking about it.” Callum offered, not pushing her. “No. Yes. Maybe?” she huffed. “It’s complicated”, she confessed as she covered her face with her hands to rub the sleep from her eyes. Callum gently rubbed her back, ”It must be if it’s got you stumped like this.”

She sat down at one of the chairs next to her dad, “So, I’ve been having these dreams for a couple of nights. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. It’s the same dream, but it seems to be repeating itself with little changes each time.”

“Go on...” Callum encouraged her.

Amaris decided to continue, “It always starts with me being in a field. Then there’s this sort of force that leads me to this lake. Almost like a mirror, it perfectly shows the sky that’s directly above it. I have to admit, it's one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. And then I hear this... Voice? It repeats the same poem-like phrases at the end of each dream. And in the center of the lake is the new constellation I found. Then I wake up. But in the dream I had last night, there was a two-headed snake exactly like the one I painted for the constellation I named Pathfinder, and it slithered onto the water into the shape of Pathfinder. Then I hear the voice say it again, and I actually talked to it for a minute but it was all nonsense. Am I insane?”

Callum looked even more concerned, now in his expression. “That certainly sounds complicated, little star. And no, I don’t think you’re insane. If anything, I sort of know what you’re going through.” He responded, and surprised Amaris.

“Really? How?” She questioned, now confused. Callum sighed, “It’s.. a long story about Dark Magic. Basically I had some pretty freaky dreams too, and it was because I used a spell from Dark Magic.” He seemed to shudder just thinking about it. “Your mom had to sit there. Watching me, I actually almost died because of it.” Amaris’ eyes widened. She’d heard plenty about Dark Magic and how it’s terrible and cruel from her dad, but not you could die from it. “And from the way that she’s described it, I probably looked like death too.”

Amaris didn’t show it in her expression, but she was extremely surprised. She’d heard of every near-death experience they’ve had, even on the Storm Spire, but not this story.

“What happened in the dream?” she inquired. 

“I can’t exactly remember everything, but somehow it helped me connect to the Sky Arcanum. I’ve always thought it was the dream that had your grandma Sarai that unlocked the connection.”

She looked slightly less confused but more down-trodden.”That’s a great story and all, but it doesn’t help me figure out what it means, Dad.” Callum looked thoughtful for a moment, then perked up. “I think your Aunt Lujanne can help with this.”

\-----------------------------

A few hours later, after they had woken up Rayla and Jaci, They saw Phoe-Phoe finally appear from behind a cloud. “You’re JOKING.” her mother sniped at her dad. “You invited Lujanne over to help Ama with her dreams?” Callum simply nodded, used to her attitude towards Lujanne.

“Are you sure about this? Every time I asked her for advice it was all bulls-”

“Ray...” He said almost as if he were scolding her, and then she continued. “Bull droppings and kooky nonsense.” 

Callum snorted and looked back at Phoe-Phoe. “If Amaris can’t make sense of it and neither can we, maybe we do need some ‘kooky’ advice. Trust me, I think you’ll thank me later.”

“Or not when my brain dies..” She muttered before Phoe-Phoe landed. She let out a sweet whistle to greet Jaci, who excitedly yelled, “PHOE-PHOE!!” and gave the phoenix a big hug.

Lujanne slid off of her back, giving a friendly wave to the three. Rayla looked annoyed, but Amaris and Callum waved back as she walked over. “So,” her aunt said, “I hear that you’ve been having some dreams lately,” Lujanne remarked, looking at Amaris.

“You could say that. You could say a lot about the dream, probably more than I could.” Amaris admitted. “Is that a fact?” Lujanne inquired, “Why not go into more detail?” Amaris relayed what she had told her parents. The more she retold the dream, the more confused she felt. _Why does this have to happen to me of all people? Haven’t my parents experienced enough of these things to last us generations?_

Lujanne listened very carefully, having her go over the details multiple times and repeat what the voice said to her outside of the dream, which was simply “A friend” before she asked a rather random question. “Can you show me the drawing of the constellation and this two-headed snake?” Amaris nodded and went back inside to find it.

While she flipped through the pages, she felt more confused. Why was this voice trying so hard to.. Talk to her? If it was even trying to!

**“I believe that I’m not only just trying to talk to you, Amaris.”**

She jolted, accidentally closing the sketchbook. “What the-”

**“Calm down, jeez. I just want your help.”** The voice whispered again, a tone of sarcasm into it. “Go away! I’m not helping a voice that won’t leave me alone!”

**“If you don’t, the war could get even worse and your whole family could be killed.”**

She froze, terrified. ”...What do you mean?”

**“Ah. I have your attention now.”** The voice replied, and then explained.  **“I need you to help me.”**

“To help you to do what?” Amaris questioned.

**“To find a way to get me out of here.”**

“I’m not just ditching my family to go find some crazy voice, I’m not insane.” Amaris protested, “Besides, I don’t trust random voices. Viren did that and look where he ended up. DEAD.”

**“Who the Galarth is Viren? Nevermind that… I know you aren’t crazy. You saw Pathfinder and found him. You even freed him and now you NEED to help me. Please.”**

“You wish!” She snapped, trying to force it out of her mind and she opened her book to the page she wrote down Pathfinder’s star pattern and grabbed her canvas.

**“Wait!-”**

Amaris left her room, cutting off the voice as if they only talked to her in the room. She pushed it out of her mind and went back outside, and showed Lujanne the drawings, which she inspected carefully.

“Yes, I’ve seen these before... And I’m afraid there’s no way around it.” Her parents and she looked extremely concerned. “No way around what?”

“I’m afraid that you’ve found the constellation from a Startouch elf’s spell."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so fun fact while pasting this from google docs i accidentally deleted it and me and dinochick both had a heart attack  
> also im still not sorry for the cliffhanger


	4. The Path Guide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find the guide to follow us on twitter!
> 
> Me : @/mixini_bruni  
> Dinochick : @/dinochickrox
> 
> Hope you enjoy the suspense

“What?!”

Rayla, Callum, and Amaris all said it at the same time after Lujanne’s words. “The heck do ya mean I found a Startouch elf’z random spell?!” Amaris said rather quickly, her accent shining through.

“Startouch elves send a constellation into the sky, in a pattern as a distress signal to other Startouch elves. But instead, our little star enthusiast found it, and the voice is the elf trying to talk to you, obviously.”

Amaris looked at Lujaane stunned, “Obviously!? OBVIOUSLY!? What’s so obvious about that! Last time I checked, I wasn’t half Startouch elf!”

Lujanne coolly stated, “Well that maybe, but you are half-human. And if I remember correctly, your human parent can connect to multiple primal arcanums. Maybe that’s what gives you an advantage!”

Amaris let out, “Well it doesn’t feel like an advantage! It feels like a curse!”

Callum got closer to his daughter to calm her, giving her a hug. “Hey, it's gonna be okay. We’re all here for you.” 

Rayla backed up Callum, “Your father’s right my wee one. Nothin’ bad is gonna happen to ya. Not if we have to say anythin’ about it.”

Amaris deeply sighed, “I’m just tired, confused, and irritated! Why can’t people just leave us alone?”

“I’ve been asking that since yer father and I were teenagers,” Rayla admitted as she comforted Amaris.

**“This is very sweet and all, but can I come into the conversation now?”** She heard it, but this time it wasn’t in her head.

No, instead it came from a tree branch nearby, where the snake with two heads was curled up, looking quite comfy.  **“Hello there, Callum and Rayla. I can’t really see where you are because this snake is just my familiar. Anyway, mind if I join in?”**

The snake looked exactly as she remembered it, with two heads and ruby-red eyes as it slithered from its spot on the tree branch and stopped close to where they were all sitting.

“Ah, I see the ‘star’ of the show has graced us with their presence,” Lujanne joked. The snake seemed to roll its eyes.  **“Puns aside, I think it’s about time I really explain what the heck is going on.”** They hissed, but not unkindly. Amaris still sniped, “I sure hope so, Mr. Startouch elf.”

**“Tharja. But my snake is indeed Pathfinder.”** He replied, finally saying his name.  **“As the ‘star’ of the show, I’m afraid I do indeed need your help.”** Tharja huffed, albeit a bit sadly. The snake slithered more close to the group, so they could hear him better.  **“I am indeed a Startouch elf, and I’m imprisoned somewhere. I don’t truly know where, but I know it’s a lake that reflects the stars.”** They hissed, and before they could continue Rayla added, “Are you sure yeh aren’t Aaravos?” She said cautiously. Their eyes widened and shook their heads.  **“Oh absolutely not. He can go get burned by dragon fire along with dark magic.”** Tharja quickly said, and Rayla seemed satisfied with that. “Well, seeing as you’re an enemy to Aaravos and Dark Magic, I suppose we can trust you...” Callum replied for Rayla, still a bit on edge.

Pathfinder nodded,  **“I certainly hope so. Miss…** (“Lujanne.”)  **Lujanne, if you know about it, can you tell them about Constellation Lake?”**

“Constellation what?” Ama inquired, as Pathfinder slithered onto her hand, their tongues flicking around, while Lujanne nodded. “Constellation Lake is an ancient lake where Startouch elves would gather to tell each other about magic and just have a good old chat, similar to the Moon Nexus’ past, although I’ve never heard of anyone being trapped there.”

The snake nodded as it curled up in Amaris’ lap.  **“Quite right. I also haven’t heard of anyone being trapped under there, but I believe it is where I am because the stars can be seen perfectly on the roof,w-”**

“With Pathfinder in the center! From my dreams!” She excitedly added, not very irritated, and the snake in her lap nodded.  **“Indeed.”**

They talked for even longer, Amaris finally being able to get answers to everything that Tharja knew, Rayla and Callum eventually becoming unsuspicious of the snake familiar and then after Lujanne left, Jaci had quite fun letting the snake slither around him. “He’s a pretty snake!” He chirped every so often, one of Pathfinder’s head seeming to smile and look happy at the compliment

While inquiring about her new Startouch elf friend, she learned that he only controlled one head. It showed his expressions and allowed him to talk, but Pathfinder was the one slithering and controlling the other head.  **“The only reason Pathfinder hissed at you was because Sage had spooked him, and I was trying to calm him down. We have a special connection like that.”**

“Well then, uh, no offense taken then?” Amaris offered, and the head that the snake controlled seemed a bit happier with that kind of apology if you could call it that. Tharja explained more about where he was, but to Amaris’ disappointment, he didn’t mention anything about Tyto, whatever it was. “Hold on.” Amaris interrupted, “What was that poem thing about, with the fake owl’s words, starred wings and all?” She hoped she would get an answer, but instead, one head shook, saying no.  **”I’m afraid I have no answer to that. I relay prophecies to those who need to hear them, I can barely understand it myself.”**

“Well, that’s helpful.” She huffed sarcastically.  **“Although I do now if you do want to help me, which I hope you do, it’ll be really dangerous,”** Tharja informed her.  **“So I would recommend you learn some magic if you can.”**

She, to Tharja’s surprise, responded with, “Well I already know some spells with the Moon arcanum from my mom and dad.” The snake nodded.  **“That’s extremely helpful.”**

He inquired what spells, and she listed what she knew from the top of her head, “Luman ignus, visio per noctum, saggita a luna, and that’s it. I don’t know any sky spells, though besides Aspiro and Fulminus.” Pathfinder tilted his heads at first but seemed to figure it out on his own before returning them to their normal position.

They talked, even more, Rayla and Callum sometimes joining in as Jaci just played with Pathfinder, and it wasn’t long till it was night. “God, it’s night already.” Amaris noticed as she looked through the window. They had moved to her room since it wasn’t very comfortable just sitting at the table, and she had to go to bed soon.

**“Time flies when you’re talking to a snake I guess,”** Tharja responded, Pathfinder curled up on his desk while the other head slept, even though she couldn’t tell since snakes had no eyelids.

She was still far from sleep, wide awake. She decided to go to her desk, getting up from sitting on her bed to look through her favorite telescope, the one she had gotten for her sixth birthday. Her uncle Ezran had gotten the royal blue and gold telescope for her since she showed an interest in looking at the stars from a young age. It was her favorite, with a design carved onto the ring around the thick lens, the Zodiac wheel with each one having the symbol and name on it. On the main tube, was her sign on opposing sides. It was the constellation for Capricorn. She smiled fondly at the memory. She had really wanted to celebrate her birthday at Katolis that year with her entire family at the time. To not only see her favorite and only uncle but to explore whatever astronomy and astrology books they had in the Royal Library. She even spent an entire day with the royal astronomer, just asking every question she could ever think. 

_ “Oh wow! A telescope! Thank you Uncle Ezran!” she said gratefully. _

_ “I’m glad you like it. I had it specially made by the most skilled craftsmen in Katolis with the help of the royal astronomer.” Ezran replied, smiling. _

It was probably one of her favorite memories to date as well as she remembered it.

Amaris adjusted the lens to zoom in closely to the stars, to find more constellations. It went  _ click, click, click  _ as she turned it. Luckily it was a clear night with few clouds, so she could find the two Ursa constellations, along with the Scorpio one.

Pathfinder was quite interested in the telescope after it woke him up, and he slithered over it as if to get an idea of how it looked. It made her chuckle when he poked his nose at the lens, seeing him zoomed in was quite funny.

“Pathfinder, you're in front of my lens.” She chuckled, and he looked confused before slithering away to curl up in the little stand it sat on.

Amaris looked around until she landed on Pathfinder, the constellation seeming to glow more and be brighter. “Hey Tharja, Pathfinder.” She whispered, trying to catch their attention. **“What?”** Tharja’s head answered while Pathfinder hissed curiously. “I see your constellation. Is it supposed to be brighter?”  **“It’s brighter?”** Tharja asked **.** “You can’t see it?” Amaris inquired, confused.  **“I can’t see it from in my prison or through Pathfinder. He’s actually blind.”** He answered. “Really? I wouldn’t have known. He gestures as if he can see.” Tharja’s head nodded as if to agree with her.  **“He still can sense heat, and can hear pretty well.”** The elf explained.

Amaris nodded as she understood before looking through the telescope again.  _ It’s pretty cool I can see it, I wonder if anyone else can. _

Indeed, someone else could in the faraway kingdom of Del Bar, through a window up in a mountain far away from the main towns.

A Dark mage with white, scruffy hair and a thick beard saw the constellation glowing brighter and growled.”Someone found that disgusting Startouch elf’s familiar and is gonna help it.” They had a frown on their face before turning into an evil grin as they whistled to call their bird over, and the Barn Owl flew over, a red glint in its pitch-black eyes. He had caught the bird and cast a control spell on it a long time ago, the bird named Scarback because of the scar on it’s back, an imprint of a control spell made it do his bidding and bound the bird to him until he died.

“Looks like we have work to do, Scarback.” He hissed through his teeth. “Once I bring down that Startouch elf and his familiar I can finally wipe out every single person with a drop of scummy elven blood in them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE MOTHAFUCKER DINOCHICK FINALLY GOT AN AO3 ACCOUNT it is the same as her twitter username so go check her out ig


	5. The Right Thing Isn't Always Easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again follow me and dinochickrox on twitter  
> this is a threat  
> my user is @/mixini_bruni and dino is @/dinochickrox

“ARGH! Why is this so hard!?” Amaris huffed as she tried, again, to learn Iactus Lunam Abietium with her father, Callum. She was already sweating and she hadn’t even hit the large red target Rayla and Callum set up for her. She’d only been able to hit the edge or completely miss it. “It shouldn’t be this hard to throw a simple white fireball!” She complained, as she said the words again and drew the rune, another white fireball appearing in her hand and Amaris still missed the bullseye.

“Careful Amaris. You don’t wanna be sloppy and get distracted.” Callum advised her, as he was standing on the side. Amaris sighed and tried again. “Iactis Lunam Abietum.” She said for probably the third time. The rune was quite simple, just the Lunam Ignus rune but with an extra line in the design through the flame. As she finished it, the rune glowing before it swirled into a flame, landing in her hand. The girl tried to focus before throwing it and finally threw it close to the bullseye. “Better!” He encouraged her, and Pathfinder was slithering through a nearby field, his heads perking up.  **“That sounded good.”** He commented before he slithered over, tongue flicking to find his way.

Callum was beaming, overjoyed she was getting the hang of it. Magic was one of his passions, and he had been teaching Jaci and Amaris about it since they could understand it. Amaris grinned, satisfied with her progress as she felt Pathfinder slithering around her shoes. “Hello there, Pathfinder.” One of the heads looked up at her as if asking to be picked up, which she obliged.

Oddly enough, despite most snakes being cold-blooded, he was warm-blooded. Tharja had explained that he was a special kind of snake, his colors looking like lava and the rock-shaped pattern on him was because he was actually connected to the Sun Arcanum. She also learned he had venom, but he never used it on her or anyone, really. Back before he was free, Pathfinder would catch rats and mice around his house, and she could believe since Amaris had caught him chasing after an adoraburr. After Jaci let only five of them loose in their home, the things produced quickly and soon became like mice and rats, but more welcome. It wasn’t uncommon she woke up with them in her hair or on her desk, poking at her telescope. There were almost two dozen of the little cotton-balls. _What’s one snake added to the menagerie_ _of animals in our house?_

She hadn’t been thinking about her much, but Sage actually had a Shadowpaw friend. Callum and Rayla used to ride him around often even before she was born, but since he was now old, Umbra just lazed around in the stable where Sage slept, sometimes walking around the Silvergrove to get attention from Jaci and the neighborhood kids. He was still a big sweetheart after all. Sage was Amaris’ Moonstrider, and she could be aloof at times but around Amaris, she was a big softie, like Runaan’s Moonstrider. Jaci didn’t really have a pet, but he played with the adoraburrs and Umbra a lot, and he did show a huge interest in birds.

Pathfinder slithered around her arms, twining himself between her fingers and his tail gripped to her sleeve, as she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt for the crisp autumn weather. She sat down on the grass to take a breather. Her father wasn’t kidding, magic was TIRING. Callum went to go sit down with her and Pathfinder decided she was bored with slithering around her horns and went to her lap, before slithering out onto a rock, seeming to bask.

Amaris got lost in her thoughts, taking notice of every detail Pathfinder had on him. It was quite a nice day, slightly cloudy with a breeze, but it wasn’t too cold. The whistles from the Eclipse Macaws and other birds were the only things breaking the silence, and she felt at ease with her being alone, Callum already had gone inside, and she relaxed...

Until she heard a loud hiss from Pathfinder, as he sat up with both of his heads, and she found out he had a hood similar to a cobra or soulfang serpent. But instead of it being serrated or scaled like either of those snakes, it simply looked like two folds of skin spreading, revealing a stone-like spot on each side of the two hoods, one for each head. One of the head’s frantically looked around, hissing still. Amaris got up quickly.  **“What is it Tharja?”** Amaris inquired, and he sadly could not give an answer. That is until a large Barn Owl flew down from a tree and tried to snatch Pathfinder, but he was quick to react and bit its wing, paralyzing it and making it screech in pain. The bird tried to scratch at Pathfinder, before it fell and crashed, quickly rolling over to upright itself. “Who are you?!” Amaris demanded, and the owl let out a hissing sound, met by the two loud hisses from Pathfinder.

Eventually, the owl surrendered, about to run up a tree but she quickly caught it, pinning its wings to the owl’s sides and getting a shrill call from them, trying to claw at the girl holding it captive now before Pathfinder jumped up and bit it, this time latching onto its leg until it went limp, its eyes still menacingly squinted and hisses coming from its beak, but it couldn’t snap or try to escape.

Then Amaris noticed that there was a large scar on it and a red glint in its eye which wasn’t normal at all. “What in the stars..” She whispered.  _ This surely isn’t normal.  _ The girl thought, and called, “Tharja! Come feel this scar on the owl’s back.” The snake turned his head and flicked its tongue before slithering over to her, and she spread the wings to keep them out of the way of the scar, and the owl greatly protested. He sniffed at them with his tongue then rubbed his nose against them, and he immediately hissed and backed away, hood up again.  **“That isn’t any normal scar.”** The snake growled.  **“That is a scar from a Dark Magic spell.”**

\-----------------------------

The owl, now determined to be a male, was unparalyzed as the venom wore off and angrily clanging against the cage it was in, hissing as it squinted in attempts to intimidate them, despite failing.

“Jaci, don’t touch it!” Rayla scolded, as he got a little too close to it. Callum asked question after question to Tharja and Amaris, as they recapped what happened.  **“I’ve seen this scar before on other animals, and sadly, one time an elf.”** He answered, and then explained,  **“This is the scar of a control spell.”** The snake hissed, nodding at the sketch Amaris had drawn in Callum’s sketchbook.  **“It’s a terrible spell using dragon’s blood and opening a wound into whoever, or whatever you want to control. Then you pour in the blood into the cut, and then it’ll heal over as you chant the spell, and then they have to do your bidding until you die.”** Pathfinder seemed to shiver just thinking, or talking about it.

“You sure know a lot about dark magic spells. You sure you’re not a dark mage?” Rayla inquired cautiously, not fully trusting at the moment.

**“I’m most definitely sure I’m not a dark mage. But, whoever did this… Maybe. I couldn’t tell you for sure. All I can say is that whoever sent him is up to no good,”** Tharja hissed, sounding irritated.  **“Hopefully he doesn’t try any more stunts.”** He attempted to reassure them. Amaris was still confused.  _ Who sent this owl, and can we free him... If it’s even possible?  _ Her head started to swirl as her expression became concerned.

Callum reassured Amaris, “Hey. It’s okay, just breathe.” Amaris nodded her head.  _ He’s right. I have to keep calm.  _ She breathed deeply, which did calm her a bit.

The owl finally stopped clanging against the bars and settled down since it appeared to have worn itself out as it fluffed up its feathers to relax. Tharja took notice and seemed to smile. “ **Looks like our feathered friend wore himself out.”** He remarked snarkily. Amaris noticed as well and smiled. “Hey Tharja, any chance we could free him from the spell?” She asked. The Barn Owl looked quite sweet with his eyes closed and feathers fluffed up, and fortunately, he nodded.  **“There is a way to free someone under the influence of a control spell, but it’s not easy.”** The snake answered, and he turned his head to look at Amaris.

**“You’d have to either imprison the caster of it somewhere, like how I’m trapped somewhere, or.. Kill them.”** Her eyes widened at the last answer. “Really? You have to KILL someone to break the spell?!” Amaris replied, shocked and… disturbed. Pathfinder nodded, albeit a bit sadly.  **“The right thing isn’t always easy, Amaris.”** Tharja offered, trying to comfort her.  **“I think we need to stop delaying the inevitable.”**

“What inevitable?” Amaris asked through gritted teeth, now even more confused.

**“You know…”** He hesitated as if not even sure himself. “Spit it out,” Amaris asked again, a little more demandingly, and he finally answered.

**“I think it’s about time you start your journey.”**


	6. An Unexpected

And so, here she was. Riding Sage through the forest and following Pathfinder who was jumping through the trees above her too fast for her to keep up. “Pathfinder! Wait up!” She called up to the treetops, Sage going into a run. The snake finally stopped on a branch, turning one of its heads around.

Yes, Amaris had finally gone to find Tharja’s prison. But not unprepared, of course. She had an entire saddlebag of supplies and her own bag with camping equipment.  _ Mom and Dad surely didn’t let me go without any essentials.  _ She thought gratefully.

At first, they were suspicious and hesitant of the idea, their daughter going into the world without them since they had to take care of Jaci.

_ “Yer absolutely sure you want to do this? Yeh don’t have to if yeh don’t want to.” Rayla offered, and even Tharja agreed.  _ **_“I’d understand if you don’t want to, Amaris.”_ **

_ She had a thoughtful look on her face, gears turning as she weighed the pros and cons. _

_ “You’re right. I don’t have to, but I want to. Not just because it’s the right thing to do, but I think I can do it. After all, it’s in my blood.” She joked, getting a chuckle from Callum. “Yeah, considering how your mom and I met was by traveling across the world.” Rayla seemed to consider it, then agreed. “But on one condition.” _

_ Amaris tilted her head. “What?” _

Turns out that one condition was not going unprepared, as they helped her pack everything she needed, and of course, her telescope and sketchbook. Luckily it was only noon so she wouldn’t need to set up camp for a while, Sage moving at a brisk pace to keep up with the snake guiding her. The forest was beautiful, moonberry bushes with the red berries ripe and delicious if she ever needed a quick snack. Her Moonstrider had already eaten some as they traveled, while Pathfinder made do with the squirrels and mice around the area, but didn’t eat much. The forest was peaceful, Amaris breaking her concentration to listen to the birds, their songs echoing through the wood. She could see if she looked up purple feathers of Eclipse Macaws and bright colors of Xadian Florani Parrots, their squawks and the songs of finches the only sounds besides Sage’s paw steps.

She didn’t have to direct Sage much, knowing to simply follow the snake.

She shifted from her sitting position to lay down, making sure to not fall over with the tricks her mother taught her when Rayla was teaching her how to ride. Callum made sure she didn’t get hurt, leaving the teaching to Rayla because he barely knew how to ride a horse.

Amaris watched the canopy as birds flitted about, watching the sky as it slowly turned dark, Sage stopping as she realized it was night and time to set up camp.

Amaris sat up and slid off her back, and luckily she had stopped at a clearing with a small pond to refill her water. The small body of water was clear and drinkable with lily-pads dotting the surface, some with water lilies.

While she set up camp Pathfinder came down from his tree, gulping a squirrel he caught.  **“Setting up for the night?”** He chirped before taking a drink after finishing the rodent, Sage already laying on the grass under a tree.

The night was peaceful as she set up her tent and a fire, eating some bread she had packed, the silence relaxing. Then, suddenly, a loud shrill yip broke it, making Sage jolt her head up, and Amaris flinched. Pathfinder’s head perked as well, the whole party surprised. ”What was that?” Amaris exclaimed, still shocked. The yip was followed by barks and growls, with the clanging of metal.  _ Did a dog get trapped or something? _ Either way, she knew she had to help the poor creature, whatever it was.”I’m gonna go investigate, Tharja.” She told him, and before he could protest against the idea she ran into the forest, to find the source of the noise. She was headed to an area that was thick with bushes, leaves rustling as they charged through.  _ “Poor thing, it must’ve not seen the trap with all these plants.”  _

Amaris could hear the yipping getting louder as she ran through the foliage, and when she got close enough she could hear wingbeats.  _ A parrot, perhaps? _ Was her first guess, when she had to close her eyes as she came into a slightly clearer area and a bright white light flashed in her eyes. Luckily, she covered her eyes in time but still couldn’t see what it was.

Once her vision was less blurry and could see again, Amaris realized that there were tiny white lights in the dark forest, frantically bouncing around with white smoke, and she managed to make out a silhouette of an animal, a small one with feathered wings, a long tail, and two legs. “Lunam Ignus.” She whispered, drawing the rune for the spell which made a tiny light in her hand, and she threw it towards the creature. The light seemed like a flame, but it couldn’t set anything on fire. As it illuminated the clearing, she noticed the creature and could make out its snout, with big round eyes and small teeth flashing as it panicked, seeming to have one of its legs caught.

Amaris gasped as she observed it further.

The animal had beautiful patterns all over it, constellations and galaxies covering its scales with a yellow mane seeming similar to a sunset, and white spots all over it.  _ Stars.  _ She realized.  _ This isn’t just a normal Star animal. _

_ It’s a star  _ **_dragon._ **

\-----------------------------

The flame went out as the spell wore off, and she decided to use a more effective one, and drew the rune’s design, whispering, “Visio per Noctum.” The spell allowed her to see in the night, and the details of the dragon came into view.  _ Whoa, no way! _

The poor thing looked so young. It’s paw was caught in a trap, and was struggling to get out. Amaris knew she had to get it out of the trap. She started to walk closer to it, before getting onto her hands and knees. The dragonet soon saw her, it’s round eyes shrinking to slits as it bared its teeth and snarled, trying to jump back but ended up falling on its back as the trap had it stuck.

“Hey little guy, it’s ok.” She attempted to reassure it as it kept trying to flap away but eventually began to snarl at her again when she tried to touch the trap, coughing a small white flame.  _ That’s where the glow came from. It must’ve tried to melt the trap. _ Despite the fire not touching her, she could feel it was actually frigid. She could see that there was some ice on the trap and could make out it was a rabbit trap.

The girl managed to distract the dragon by snapping her fingers behind it, getting it to turn it’s head so she could open the trap to free it, and before the dragon turned around and snapped at her with its teeth, she managed to open it and they tumbled from being released and flopped onto the grass. “See? I’m not so bad huh?” Amaris greeted. The little one let out a chirp before trying to stand with its two feet, and she noticed that instead of claws, she had cat-like paws, as Sage did. They let out a grunt as she fell over, her leg injured and Amaris realized something,  _ She can’t walk because of the trap. It seems to have mangled her leg.  _ The dragonet eventually got up with the help of its wings and hissed before falling over again. “Mrah!” It growled, trying to get up again.  _ Stubborn little thing, huh? I can relate. _ “Hey little one, I can help yah. I have some supplies that can help your leg,” Amaris offered. The young dragon perked up, tilting its head and chirping back, “Mrr?” She offered her hand out to sniff, and its nose twitched before it gave it a lick, resting its head on her hand. She smiled and began to scratch her chin, feeling her throat vibrate as the dragon purred.  _ Must be a little girl, _ Amaris concluded,  _ Seeing she doesn’t have a crest like male feathered dragons do. _ She scooped up the dragon, at first squeaking nervously but then snuggled into her jacket, and Amaris began to walk back with the little dragon in her arms, scratching between her horns and hearing her purr. “See? I told ya you can trust me,” Amaris reassured the hatchling. She began to think of a name for her and noticed her main colors were blue and purple. 

“Azure.” She whispered. “I’ll name you Azure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Amaris has a new companion!
> 
> Follow me and Dinochick on twitter
> 
> Me: @/mixini_bruni  
> Dinochick: @/dinochickrox


	7. Paws and Demands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops my hand slipped and yall get a double update

**“Why did you have to bring a baby DRAGON to the camp?!”**

It was the morning after Amaris brought Azure, nicknamed Azy, and Tharja wasn’t too happy about it… Sage could care less about Azy since they didn’t bother her and was the size of her head. She had learned how to hop around on one foot while the other was bandaged and healing, and flap her wings, and she had taken an interest in Pathfinder. Mainly because she had an appetite, which she showed as she snapped at his tail because Pathfinder was in a tree, hissing with displeasure.

“Azy, what have I told ya? Snake friend, not food,” Amaris repeated for the umpteenth time. Azure looked over at her and whined, earning an eye roll. “If you want food, I can give you some jerky.” Her eyes widened as she chirped, hobbling over and yipped at her, trying to encourage her to get it out faster. Amaris giggled, “Alright, jeez!” She threw it over to her, the dragon jumping up and catching it before shaking it as if making sure it was dead.”See? Substance. No hunting required,” she stated. Azy quickly began to tear it up, gulping it down.  _ She must’ve been starving when she got trapped. That would explain why she hadn’t noticed the trap in the first place.  _ She thought as she tossed her another piece.

**“Ravenous little thing, isn’t she?”** Tharja deducted. “You would be too if you were starving,” 

**“Touché.”** He chuckled.  **“But I still think we should release her back into the wild.”** “With that leg? I don’t think so.” She huffed back, feeling defensive all of a sudden. “It’s just that she’s so young. Way too young to be without her mother. And from the looks of it, she doesn’t have one. At least, not anymore. I can’t leave Azy to die out there.” Amaris defended her, and the little baby’s head perked up when hearing her name, barking happily and seeming to wag her tail. “And who can say ‘no’ to that face?” 

**“No wonder your home is practically a zoo.”** He muttered as she turned her head back to Azy who was jumping at her feet, and then whipped it back around “ExCUSE me? Is that any way to talk to the person that is literally your only hope in freedom?” Tharja slithered down from the tree, Pathfinder’s head seeming worried, while Tharja looked... Angry?  **“I’m just saying, you have at least a dozen of those cotton-balls-”** “ADORABURRS.” She corrected him.  **“Adoraburrs, whatever, a Shadowpaw and Moonstrider, and now a dragon!”** He hissed, and she glared back coldly. “Says the guy who can only talk through a snake.” Amaris sniped at him.  **“Yes. A snake, as in one.”** He quipped, hissing as Pathfinder hissed back at him.  **“It’s better than a whole zoo.”**

They argued and argued back and forth, and back at Rayla and Callum’s home, Scarback’s cage was resting on her desk, in full view of the window, his eyes squinted as he could sense something… His black owl eyes kept looking before realizing what it was, and it was one of the main things in Dark Magic.

Hatred, and anger. The bird seemed to smile before picking at the lock with its beak, and finally unlocked the door and flapped away almost silently. After all, he was hungry for snake.

“I didn’t even have teh help yeh! I could just leave yah, trapped forever!” She practically snarled, Pathfinder still trying to knock some sense into Tharja similar to how Azy was to Amaris, but to no avail.  **“Fine then! If you don’t wanna help me, then don’t.”** He slithered away, almost angrily with his tail lashing. Azure frowned, whining for her to pick her up, which she obliged. Sage huffed at her as if to say “Really? Picking a fight with a freaking snake?”, and Amaris glared at her and said, “Don’t you look at me like that.” The Moonstrider seemed to shrug and go back to eating moonberries.  _ Great, made it just over twenty-four hours and he’s pissed off at me.  _ Her face scrunched up, but Azure comforted her. “Mirr!” She demanded scratches on her mane, which made her smile. “I’d never get rid of you.”

All was silent, but of course, because they couldn’t go a day with just silence, a loud, shrill cry screamed from the forest where Pathfinder had disappeared, and a loud HISSSSSS responded back, and her eyes widened.  _ Oh no. _

_ That owl’s found Pathfinder! _

She quickly put down Azy, sternly telling her “Stay here!” before running into the forest again, but this time there were fewer leaves and bushes. The screeches and hisses grew louder and louder, and eventually, she finally reached them.

Pathfinder’s two hoods were flared on both his heads, mouth open with fangs out while the owl was nipping at him and was about to attack his head when Amaris quickly grabbed it, pinning the wings and the owl screeched, making her ears ring as the cream-colored owl whipped it’s head around to snap at her, and eventually broke free from her grip and snapped at her face, making her have to use her arms to defend herself because she was unable to draw a rune quick enough. Her arms were getting scratched up but eventually, he quit to grab the snake, his claws about to curl around his scales and carry him away-

But before he had the chance, Azure burst from the bushes and tackled the bird, who was roughly the same size as her, breathing her ice-fire on it, and the two had to cover their eyes from the glow. The bird fell to the ground, wings frozen in place along with their feet, only their head could move until she knocked out the bird with a swift kick from her unbandaged leg, and his head fell to the ground.

Azure almost fell over but caught herself, flapping her wings and righting herself before letting out a triumphant bark, closing her eyes contently.

“And you wanted to let her loose, but look at her now. Saving your tail.” Amaris couldn’t help but quip, and Tharja nodded.

**“Yeah. I agree. She should stay.”**


	8. The Starry Prison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAND WE’RE BACK!  
> Sorry for dying on you guys like that, Dino had to do adult things and my motivation was nonexistent. Oh, and my twitter account got hacked! Yaaay.

After what seemed like forever, the day’s end was near. Amaris and Tharja had made it back to the makeshift camp, the bird still knocked out as its body was limp in Amaris’ arms. “Well, I suppose we have a prisoner of sorts.” She joked to the snake.  **“Now for the next question, how are we supposed to contain it?”** Tharja asked, and the girl realized that she hadn’t thought about that.  _ Oh jeez, I hadn’t thought about that…  _ “Well… How about we clip its wings? At least it won’t be able to fly off whenever it wants to, for at least a while.” The snake tilted one of its heads, as the other slept.  **“What do you mean?”** Amaris rolled her eyes and explained. “You trim off some of the flight feathers. They grow back of course, but the bird can’t fly.”

He seemed to understand after a second, nodding.  **“That seems like a good plan.”**

About ten minutes later, Ama had managed to clip its wings, a little botched but not terrible for her hand-eye coordination. The owl was still knocked out but was breathing steadily. She laid next to Sage, who was sleeping, and her mind began to wander. Thinking out loud, she asked the snake, who had slithered onto a rock to bask, “How’d you get imprisoned anyways?”  **“That’s a long story…”**

The snake slithered over to her, and coiled up next to her, as he began to tell the story.

**“As you know I presume, humans and elves have been fighting for centuries. Most elves hated humans and thought they were horrible, while I… was much more sympathetic. I actually wanted to end the war, not fight in it. My brother, Lyr, was killed by humans. But instead of being bitter, I wanted it to end.”**

Tharja let out a deep sigh as he remembered his days as a healer in the war, for his healing abilities.

**_“Careful, brother!”_** _Tharja had laughed, not yet imprisoned. He was only barely an adult, and already a prolific healer. His brother chuckled as he stood on a rock._ _“I am the king of this rock!”_ _Lyr joked, grinning, making the other Startouch elf roll his eyes. His brother could be quite annoying, but he was quite charming at times._

_ A soldier quickly rushed over, looking worried. The Earthblood elf’s skin was bruised, with a cut going down his arm. Lyr snapped to attention and quickly said,  _ _ “Ferai, what “is wrong?” _ _ The elf panted before saying, “It’s the humans. They’re attacking one of the watchtowers!” Tharja’s face went almost white, and Lyr became more serious, beckoning for his brother to follow, green eyes going from soft and playful to hard and serious in a matter of seconds. The two brothers followed the elf, and Tharja stayed behind to treat soldiers’ wounds. The battle was brutal, with multiple soldiers, human and Xadian, dead or at death’s door. The healer worked hard, before going out to try and help, delivering supplies.  _

_ He spotted his brother, Lyr, fighting with a male human soldier, practically butting heads. The Startouch elf fought against him with his sword, the two clinking. Tharja paid vague attention until he saw another soldier sneaking upon his brother, and his almost galaxy blue eyes went wide and he yelled to Lyr,  _ **_“LYR! Watch out!”_ **

_ Lyr quickly responded, but just a second too late. _

The snakes head bowed, keeping the tears from his eyes.  **“I didn’t want anyone else to die, I just wanted to honor my brother.”** Amaris’ face had become sympathetic as Tharja told her the story.  **“But… most others didn’t agree with me. They thought I was being disrespectful, that I should want to take down the humans and avenge my brother. But no, it was a war. There wasn’t any time for grudges, and I was wise enough to have them.”**

**“But… as you can see.”** He chuckled a bit.  **“It ended me up somewhere other than home. An archmage in Xadia took it upon himself to imprison me, and it was actually a human mage. He had snuck into Xadia and disapproved of my beliefs of peace. And so, he put me in the lake. Where I’ve been for probably about two and a half decades now.”**

Her eyes were sad and sympathetic, and Amaris gently stroked the snake’s rough scales. “I’m… so sorry that happened. If anything happened to Jaci or my parents, I wouldn’t be able to function.” Tharja smiled at her sympathy and yawned.  **“Well, I’d say you should go to bed, along with me. It’s almost the moons peak. Or as you call it, midnight** . **”** The young girl looked up at the sky, to indeed see it had become nightfall. “Yeah, I’d agree with you there.”

  
  


Meanwhile, as the moon rose, the dark mage with his scruffy hair, now combed and looking rather nice, was pacing. “Where is Scarback?!” He snarled, looking outside his window again. “He should be back by now…”

Tyto hissed under his breath as he walked to the window, and stared at the sky, hoping to see his puppet, but nothing. No wingbeats or anything. He huffed and put on his robe, a dark blue with purple markings, the shape of the Dark Magic symbol. 

“Fine. If my owl can’t hunt down that bastard of an elf, Tharja?”

“Then I’ll do it myself.”

Scarback, at the camp, jolted awake as he felt his master displeased with him. The owl tried to fly, but couldn’t. He hissed before trying again, and eventually could almost, before a paw thunked against his head, knocking him out again. Azure chirped and breathed her ice-fire on him again, freezing him in place.

The little dragonet was satisfied and went to sleep next to Amaris.

Unknowing of the danger that was coming for them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick update!

Hey there guys!  
Sorry for the lack of chapters, me and Dinochick just had a bit of burnout but I plan to speak with them soon and write more adventures!  
Again, follow us on twitter  
Dinochick: @/dinochickrox  
Me! : @/mixini_bruni


	10. ...oops.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ANOTHER update... sorry for the wait

So....  
It's been a while since my last update, huh?  
I am so sorry for the wait and the hiatus, I have had a lot of personal struggles lately and frankly, the world is bound to end anytime soon. Also, my twitter got suspended for being hacked! My new one is @/catradorac4non

Here's a quick timeline, from what I can remember.

-Planning to write but frankly, having no motivation and burnout (Most of the hiatus)

-Scrambling to sign as many petitions as possible for BLM, and show my support

-Finding out I am nonbinary and want to go be xe/xem/xyr pronouns!

-A lot of therapy appts at once for this month

-Trying to relax for once... it's been hectic.

But fear not, I will be writing soon with Dinochick! We also haven't talked at all (dino whenever you wanna write hmu on discord) because life stuff.

I also had to finish school and such, and also my snake is on the loose, I literally found out the last time me and Dinochick called. It's chaos, we still haven't found him.

Anyway, just a quick update and if you guys want, in between chapters I COULD sprinkle in some extra info...

Anyway for the fiftieth time, I will be writing soon (also im making a oneshot, look out for that)

-Luza


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